• Published 28th Feb 2013
  • 3,185 Views, 348 Comments

The Equestria Games: First Blood - 8_Bit



A crossover with The Hunger Games. While the original book/movie focus on the 74th Games, this takes us all the way back to where it started, where the first blood was spilled to entertain the masses. The story of the 1st Equestria Games.

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Chapter XVII: Into the Arena

“Right,” Lightning Dust said as Twilight and Thunderlane ate their breakfast. “This is the last chance I’ll have to give you any advice, so listen up.”

Twilight felt strange. On one hoof, she had spent a night cuddled up with Thunderlane, and her brother had driven himself to exhaustion just to so he could wish her luck in the arena. As Shining Amor had said, her memory of the dream hadn’t faded as she woke up. On the other hoof, she felt emotionally drained after watching him fade into the void. Add that to the fact that the pony she had spent the night cuddled up with would soon be joining her in the arena, and she just ended up with a painful mix of emotions that left her feeling dizzy.

“First and foremost,” Lightning Dust continued. “The Cornucopia will have supplies. Saddle packs full of equipment, food, and weapons. But, everypony will want these supplies, so chances are there will be a bloodbath in the first few moments. My advice is to stay alive, so run away as quick as you can, putting as much distance as you can between yourselves and everypony else. If you see something within reach, and you want to go for it, it’s your funeral. Oh, and don’t step off the pads until the countdown timer reaches zero. There are mines under each one, which will go off if you step off.”

Twilight looked at Thunderlane nervously, who returned her gaze with a supportive smile. It was nothing less than miraculous how much better she felt when he directed on of those smiles towards her.

“Secondly, count the cannons, and keep a count of them. They’ll fire one every time a tribute dies, so if you keep a count of the cannon fires, you’ll be keeping a count of how many tributes are dead. From that, you’ll easily be able to work out how many are still alive.”

“Finally, alliances. They won’t last forever, but they may be useful. If you ally with somepony from, say, District 11, their agricultural knowledge may prove useful in finding food. That’s a very specific example, but you get the point. If you do form alliances, try not to get too attached to the other ponies. There’s only one winner after all.”

“That’s about it really. Not much more I can say other than ‘don’t die’.”

All her advice now given, Lightning Dust had nothing more to say. Hoity Toity and Photo Finish had already left, they’d be waiting at the arena for emotional support before Twilight and Thunderlane would actually be sent in to fight. The three of them sat and ate in awkward silence, listening to the gentle ticking of the clock. It felt like forever, before Lighting Dust stood up, announcing that it was time to go.

She walked them to the elevator, hugging each one in turn.

“Thank you,” Twilight said as they hugged. “For everything.”

Lightning Dust smiled. “It was no problem. Just be strong out there. Both of you.”

“We will,” Thunderlane said confidently, as he stepped into the elevator with Twilight. They watched as Lightning Dust held back tears, and the glass doors slid closed, allowing the elevator to begin its descent.

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The atmosphere in the hovercraft was thick enough to cut with a knife. All the tributes sat on opposite sides of a military style cargo hold, males on one side, females on the other, as a Peacekeeper went up to each of them, inserting some kind of needle in their flanks.

“Tracking devices,” the Peacekeeper explained. “Tell us your location, and shows us your vital signs, like pulse, breathing rate, etc. When your heart stops beating, the signal shutoff activates the cannon. Basic stuff.”

Twilight almost laughed. The Peacekeeper was talking about their deaths just as part of a system. Just a simple topple of a domino that knocked over the one next to it, all very routine.

“So, what happens if lots of us die at once?” Pinkie Pie asked with a sadistic tone to her voice.

“If the signal becomes spammed, it will cause a five minute delay. Five minutes after the last signal shutoff, the cannon will fire once for each time a signal became shut off.”

This seemed to satisfy Pinkie, who was beginning to twitch maniacally. She was clearly anticipating the hunt that awaited her.

Some of the other ponies were less excited. Fluttershy had been shivering violently, so much so that Applejack had resorted to holding her hoof to calm her down. While it eased her shivering, her terrified cries were now the only noise in the small hold.

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Twilight breathed in deeply and slowly. The room with her designated entry tube was surprisingly comfortable, with marble tiled flooring, a small fridge for refreshments, and a comfortable sofa. Twilight wasn’t allowed to take any food or drink into the arena with her, so she sat on the sofa, hoof in hoof with Hoity Toity, as she gently sipped a bottle of water. She contemplated talking to him to pass the time, but she really didn’t feel up to it. After what felt like an eternity, a voice came over the PA system.

“Sixty seconds.”

Twilight began to shake, as Hoity Toity helped her up, before hugging her tightly.

“Good luck,” he said, before giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

She nodded appreciatively, her mouth now beginning to go dry in a state of panic. Her legs felt numb and she was sweating rapidly as she walked towards the glass tube in the corner of the room.

“Ten seconds.”

Twilight stepped into the tube, and Hoity Toity gave some final words of wisdom as the glass sealed her in: “Don’t let them underestimate y-”

The glass was sound proof, and the last word was cut off abruptly as the tube sealed itself. She put her hoof against the glass, hoping for Hoity Toity to do the same, but before he got the chance, the tube began to rise, and soon the room on the other side of the glass was replaced by gravel. Then blinding sunlight, and Twilight was in the middle of a clearing.

The arena was colossal. A perfect semi-circle, at least 10 miles across, had been cut into a coastal cliff, with a forest growing at the top. The cliffs surrounding them were impossibly smooth, and became steeper as they rose, going beyond vertical at the top. There was no way to scale them. Where the semi-circular cliffs ended, the land became sea. The base of the semi-circle was also a forest, with terrain gradually sloping downwards as it became closer to the sea. Towards the back of the semi-circle was what appeared to be a ruined town, as crumbling stone towers rose out of the tree line, building after building for a mile across. On the cliffs in the distance behind the city sat a mighty waterfall, which landed in a beautiful river that snaked its way through the city, and then back into the forest as the water made its way back to the sea. The terrain, though gradual in its descent, dropped at least two hundred feet, if not more on its way from the cornucopia to the sea, and rose even more towards the city and the cliffs behind.

Twilight was so intrigued by her surroundings, she had lost all focus, turning back to face the cornucopia to see the countdown timer reach ten. Ten! She had to think fast. There was a saddle bag right in front of her, only a few paces forward. The pads were spaced out in a circle surrounding the cornucopia, and they were at least twenty feet apart. She had plenty of time to grab it.

She exhaled deeply as the countdown hit one, and took her chance as soon as it read zero. She jumped forwards, pushing her nose under the saddle bag, then using the upward motion of her whole head to throw it up in the air enough for her to step forward, letting it land on her back. Pleased with her swift movement, she turned around and ran as fast as she could, heading into the trees and towards the sea, leaving behind her a brutal bloodbath.

As soon as the timer had reached zero, Blueblood had run to the side, heading for the next tribute over. He tackled Gizmo violently, wrapping his foreleg around the skinny pony’s neck and snapping it in one swift movement. One pony was already down in the first few seconds. Rainbow Dash had a clear shot into the mouth of the Cornucopia, which she took to her advantage, grabbing a bow and arrow, notching an arrow quickly and aiming it towards Lyra, who was fiddling with the straps of her saddle bag. The arrow flew swiftly and silently, striking Lyra right in her left eye, and the unicorn went out like a light.

Nighteye was cool and calm about how he went, eyeing up Featherweight tripping over Gizmo’s body. Blueblood had joined Rainbow Dash at the Cornucopia, so he wouldn’t be of use here. Nighteye charged over, picking up the small pegasus by the neck. Applejack looked over to see this, and hoping to do something honorable and good in the games, began to charge over to try and help the young pegasus. Rarity looked up from driving a javelin into Berry Punch’s throat just in time to see this, before pulling out the javelin and throwing it with all her might. The javelin struck Applejack in the head, knocking her limp body sideways as her blood splattered Nighteye and the still struggling Featherweight.

The small pegasus screamed as Nighteye looked at him with a blood-stained grin, before reaching his other hoof around the back of his head, and promptly snapping his neck. Nighteye chuckled as the small body fell to the ground, before he joined the other ponies at the cornucopia. Almost nopony had tried to get any equipment, leaving Rarity, Blueblood, Rainbow Dash, Nighteye, Pyro, Pinkie Pie and Fire Work to most of the food and weapons. They all looked at each other with wide grins, and began to go through the equipment.

“Well, well,” Pyro said as she wandered to the back of the Cornucopia, finding a terrified Caramel desperately trying in vain to find a weapon in the darkness. “Look what we have here. Somepony’s trying to steal our equipment.”

Rarity had found a torch, which she shone backwards. “Well now, what are we going to do with you?”

Caramel grew more and more panicked as the various clique ponies gathered around him. He had no weapons, and no way out, and his confidence was rapidly diminishing.

Pinkie Pie stepped forward. “I think I have an idea,” she said grinning like a maniac, revealing a bottle of napalm and a box of matches.

Pyro chuckled gently. “Pinkie Pie, I think you just read my mind.”

Author's Note:

Ermagerd! We are finally in the arena! I really wanted to get this off to a brutal and violent start, because I know you guys have been eagerly waiting to read about these ponies killing each other. Well, you'll be happy to know that the time is now!

My chapter average wordcount so far has been between 1,000 and 2,000, but now we're actually in the arena, I want to try and get 2,000 words per chapter as a mimimum. Chances are I'm gonna fail at this goal, but it's nice to set myself a target.

Thanks for sticking around guys. This is where the real fun begins...

<3